The Pride Of Jared MacKade. Nora Roberts

      “Spring on the farm,” she murmured. “So, who’s the daddy?”

      “That smug-looking hog over there.”

      “Ah, the one who’s ignoring her. Typical.” Still smiling, she tossed back her hair. “We’re here on a mission, Mr. MacKade.”

      “Shane.”

      “Shane. Rumor is, you’ve got kittens.”

      Shane grinned down at Bryan. “Talked her into it, huh?”

      All innocence, Bryan shrugged, but his quick, triumphant grin betrayed him. “She needs company when I’m at school.”

      “That’s a good one. They’re in the barn. I’ll show you.”

      “No.” To stop him, Savannah put a hand on his arm. There was a glint in her eyes that told him she knew exactly where his thoughts were heading. “We won’t interrupt your work. Your pigs are waiting, and I’m sure Bryan knows exactly where to find the kittens.”

      “Sure I do. Come on, Mom.” He had her by the hand, tugging. “They’re really cool. Shane’s got all kinds of neat animals,” Bryan told her.

      “Mm-hmm…” With a last amused glance, she let herself be hauled away. “Magnificent animals.” And, she thought as she watched Jared stride out of the barn with a bale over his shoulder, here was another one now.

      His eyes met hers, held, as he stopped, tossed the bale down. The suit had been deceiving, she realized. Though he hadn’t looked soft in it, he’d looked elegant. There was nothing elegant about the man now.

      He was all muscle.

      If she’d been a lesser woman, her mouth might have watered.

      Instead, she inclined her head and spoke coolly. “Mr. MacKade.”

      “Ms. Morningstar.” His tone was just as cool. But it took a focused effort to unknot the tension in his stomach. “Hi, Bryan.”

      “I didn’t know you worked here,” Bryan began. “I’ve never seen you working here.”

      “Now and again.”

      “How come you were wearing a suit?” he asked. “Shane never wears a suit.”

      “Not unless you knock him unconscious first.” When the boy grinned, Jared noticed a gap in his teeth that hadn’t been there the day before. “Lose something?”

      Proudly Bryan pressed his tongue in the gap. “It came out this morning. It’s good for spitting.”

      “I used to hold the record around here. Nine feet, three inches. Without the wind.”

      Impressed, and challenged, Bryan worked up saliva in his mouth, concentrated and let it fly. Jared pursed his lips, nodded. “Not bad.”

      “I can do better than that.”

      “You’re one of the tops in your division, Bry,” Savannah said dryly. “But Mr. MacKade has work to do, and we’re supposed to be looking at kittens.”

      “Yeah, they’re right in here.” He took off into the barn at a run. Savannah followed more slowly.

      “Nine feet?” she murmured, with a glance over her shoulder.

      “And three inches.”

      “You surprise me, Mr. MacKade.”

      She had a way of sauntering on those long legs, he thought, that gave a man’s eyes a mind of their own. After a quick internal debate, he gave up and went in after her.

      “Aren’t they great?” Bryan plopped right down in the hay beside the litter of sleeping kittens and their very bored-looking mama. “They have to stay with her for weeks and weeks.” Very gently, he stroked a fingertip over the downy head of a smoke-gray kitten. “But then we can take one.”

      She couldn’t help it. Savannah went soft all over. “Oh, they’re so tiny.” Crouching down, she gave in to the need and lifted one carefully into her hand. “Look, Bry, it fits right in my palm. Oh, aren’t you sweet?” Murmuring, she nuzzled her face against the fur. “Aren’t you pretty?”

      “I like this one best.” Bryan continued to stroke the tiny gray bundle. “I’m going to call him Cal. Like for Cal Ripkin.”

      “Oh.” The soft orange ball in her hand stirred and mewed thinly. Her heart was lost. “All right. The gray one.”

      “You could take two.” Jared stepped into the stall. Her face, he thought, was an open book. “It’s nice for them to have company.”

      “Two?” The idea burst like a thousand watts in Bryan’s brain. “Yeah, Mom, we’ll take two. One would be lonely!”

      “Bry—”

      “And it wouldn’t be any more trouble. We’ve got lots of room now. Cal’s going to want somebody to play with, to hang around with.”

      “Thanks, MacKade.”

      “My pleasure.”

      “And anyway,” Bryan went on, because he’d come out of his own excitement long enough to see the way his mother was cuddling the orange kitten, “this way we could each pick one. That’s the fair way, right?”

      Smiling, Bryan reached out to brush his finger over the orange kitten. “He likes you. See, he’s trying to lick your hand.”

      “He’s hungry,” Savannah told him, but she knew there was no possible way she was going to be able to resist the little bundle rooting in her hand. “I suppose they would be company for each other.”

      “All right, Mom!” Bryan sprang up, kissed her without any of the embarrassment many nine-year-old boys might feel. “I’m going to tell Shane which ones are ours.”

      With a clatter of feet, Bryan dashed out of the barn.

      “You know you wanted it,” Jared said.

      “I’m old enough to know I can’t have everything I want.” But she sighed and set the kitten down so that it could join its siblings in a morning snack. “But two cats can’t be that much more trouble than one.”

      She started to rise, flicking a glance upward when Jared put a hand under her arm and helped her up. “Thanks.” She stepped around him and headed for the light. “So, are you a farm boy moonlighting as a lawyer, or a lawyer moonlighting as a farm boy?”

      “It feels like both these days. I spent the last few years living in Hagerstown.” He matched his pace to her long, lazy one. “When I moved back a couple of months ago, I had a lot of things to deal with in the city, so I haven’t been able to give Shane and Devin much of a hand.”

      “Devin?” She paused outside, where the sun was strong and warming quickly. “Oh, the sheriff. Yes, Bryan’s mentioned him. He lives here, too.”

      “He sleeps here now and again,” Jared said. “He lives in the sheriff’s office.”

      “Fighting crime, in a town with two stoplights?”

      “Devin takes things seriously.” He looked over to where Bryan was dancing around Shane as Shane herded the cows back to pasture. “Have you given any more thought to your father’s estate?”

      “Estate. Now, that’s a very serious word. Yes, I’ve thought about it. I have to talk to Bryan.” At Jared’s cocked brow, she spoke quietly. “We’re a team, Mr. MacKade. He gets a vote in this. We have a Little League game this afternoon, and I don’t want to distract him from that. I’ll have an answer for you by Monday.”

      “Fine.” Jared’s eyes shifted from hers again, narrowed. The warning glint in them had Savannah’s lips curving.

      “Let me guess. Your brother’s looking at my butt again.”

      Intrigued,